A new coach wasn’t enough to earn the Drumheller Dragons a win against the Fort McMurray Oil Barons (20-3-2), as the MOB downed the Dragons 4-1 in Drumheller on Friday night in new Dragon coach Barry Wolff’s sixth game behind the bench.
Goaltender Tanner Jaillet (9-0-1) earned the win and first star honours, stopping 34 of 35 shots.
Killian Hutt (1G) scored the game-winning goal early in the third period, off of a superb cross-crease pass on a 2-on-1 rush with rookie forward Justin Fraser.
Drumheller goalie Braden Gamble (2-9) kept his team in it for the vast majority of the game, stopping 35 of 38 Fort McMurray shots.
A scoreless first period was highlighted by three MOB powerplays, all of which generated chances that were shunted aside by the Drumheller netminder. An odd-man rush in the first period resulted in a Colton Parayko scoring chance from the middle of the slot, but his forehand shot was barely turned aside by a sprawling Gamble.
Parayko would convert on an early second-period chance, however, as a blast from the right point on the powerplay found its way past Gamble to make it 1-0 Barons at the b7:45 mark of the middle stanza.
However, the Barons were outshot 15-11 in the second, for a two-period total of 25-24 in favour of Fort McMurray.
The third period, however, belonged to the visitors, as they outscored Drumheller 3-1 and outshot them 14-11 for a game total of 39-35.
Hutt doubled the McMurray lead, converting Fraser’s pass 2:57 in.
Just over halfway through the second, Drumheller (6-19-2) spoiled Jaillet’s shutout bid as captain Kevin McMillan floated a pass in front of the Barons net to Keaton Levesque, who converted to cut the lead in half.
Just over three minutes later, Drew McLaughlin’s point shot deflected off a Dragon’s stick to Justin Rose, who backhanded the puck past an out-of-position Gamble for his team-leading 13th goal of the year.
Cole Penner converted an empty-net opportunity with 35 seconds left to seal the victory.
The win moved Fort McMurray to within 2 points of the first-place Spruce Grove Saints, with one game in hand.
The Barons travel to Camrose on Saturday night for a 7:30 puck drop at the Edgeworth Centre. Pre-game coverage starts at 7:15 on Country 93.3.
